Cowboy Rides Giant Walleye

Mobridge, South Dakota

Sculpted by South Dakota artist John Lopez, unveiled July 2, 2018. The artwork's official name is "Walleye Up," a play on the term "cowboy up," meaning to master a difficult situation. It might refer to Lopez's ability to craft a piece of art that somehow successfully pays tribute to Mobridge's two very different claims to fame: ranching and fishing. More likely it refers to the life-size sculpted cowboy, who sneers in concentration as he rides the bucking monster fish clutching his "buck rein," the line attached to the hook in the giant Walleye's mouth. The sculpture is made out of Lopez's preferred medium of repurposed farm machinery junk, and is mounted on a metal pedestal that resembles a wave thrashed up by the angry fish.